I decided to post this blog to assist anyone going through the LID for the treatment of Thyroid Cancer and follow-up body scans.
Obviously, Crohn's patients (or anyone with IBD, IBS, etc.) may have some special concerns while on the LID. Hopefully, you are not going through a flare when you have to be on the LID, because it may be difficult or perhaps even impossible to do the LID. Let you health care provider (your endocrinologists) know if you are having a flare. Perhaps they can time the LID accordingly.
Anyway, I did my best to document what I was able to eat while on the LID so as to not trouble my Crohn's Disease or my stomach too much. It was quite a challenge though to be on the LID on so many levels (the time required for research, shopping and food preparation, getting used to the diet change, ETC.), so let me be frank about that! At times, I felt like a child, eating some food just to satisfy my parents - in this case, the parent was the LID (Low Iodine Diet). And, many of the meals gave me a lot of gas. However, my determination/motivation to do the LID was based on the fact that I wanted the RAI (Radioactive Iodine) ablation to be as successful as possible!
Disclaimer: Keep in mind, I'm not a doctor, nor a dietician, just an individual with over 4 decades of experience living with Crohn's Disease. Any health related questions need to be directed to your physicians and health care providers. What you see on this blog is an act of love. I hope you find it helpful.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Products Purchased At the Local Grocery Store (Images Included)
Note: We kept reading on Thyroid Cancer support forums about Whole Foods and Trader Joes (or any of the other so-called healthier grocery store chains in your area) as having "this" or "that", which is fine, if these stores are close to you or you don't mind driving to them. Fortunately, we found all of our "products/ingredients/etc." at our local grocery store. In our case - being located in New England - we found them at the Market Basket and Hannaford grocery food-store chains.
Disclaimer: At the time of this posting (Oct 2014), all the ingredients were checked to insure they didn't have any of the non-friendly LID (Low Iodine Diet) ingredients. I was reminded early on though by those who had first-hand experience with the LID to double-check the ingredients regardless. Why? Because manufacturers do change their ingredients from time-to-time. Sometimes the ingredient change makes the product non LID-Friendly - conversely, sometimes it makes it LID-Friendly! Lastly, if you should see a product in this blog that you think (because of your own research) is not LID-Friendly, don't use it. However, let me know. But remember, this is a Low-Iodine Diet, not a No Iodine Diet. Apparently, you are allowed 50 mcg of iodine each day - and yes, I have no idea how you would no that! So, be as strict as you can without driving yourself crazy.
I have to make you aware of something that was a bit confusing to me until someone cleared this up for me. When checking to see if a product is LID-Friendly, remember that this is NOT a non-sodium diet. For instance, a product may list Sodium in the "Nutrients" list. When you see this, check the "Ingredients" list to ensure there is NO salt listed. If there is no salt listed, then the Sodium can (and often does) occurs naturally in the product, which would make it LID Friendly. Recall that there is no way to know if any salt listed in the ingredients is iodized or non-iodized and their are no requirements from the US Government (FDA) to list this particular distinction. (You may call the manufacturer, but personally this may be a red herring because it could depend on who you talk to. Personally, I rather add non-iodized salt from a non-iodized container that I purchased in the store to provide me with the level of trust that any salt added to my food is NOT iodized because any iodized salt can severely jeopardized the effectiveness of the RAI treatment.)
These ingredients disqualify products from being LID compliant: Salt (because you don't know if the manufacturer used iodized salt or not), Red-dye, Soy, Soybean, Sea Salt/carrageenan/seaweed (like fish - which is NOT on the LID - because anything form the sea will have varying amounts of iodine), (Note: In the Thyroid Cancer Support Forums, I was told that Soybean Oil is acceptable.)
The images below contain pictures of products that will help to steer you in the right direction. In no way does it represent all the ingredients and products used. Common sense played a part in this decision. For instance, although we used the spice Parsley, we didn't put a picture of it up here because it didn't contain anything in the spice other than Parsley, making it LID-Friendly.
Images Follow - with an attempt to categorize them:
Spices, Flavorings, Broths, ETC:
Disclaimer: At the time of this posting (Oct 2014), all the ingredients were checked to insure they didn't have any of the non-friendly LID (Low Iodine Diet) ingredients. I was reminded early on though by those who had first-hand experience with the LID to double-check the ingredients regardless. Why? Because manufacturers do change their ingredients from time-to-time. Sometimes the ingredient change makes the product non LID-Friendly - conversely, sometimes it makes it LID-Friendly! Lastly, if you should see a product in this blog that you think (because of your own research) is not LID-Friendly, don't use it. However, let me know. But remember, this is a Low-Iodine Diet, not a No Iodine Diet. Apparently, you are allowed 50 mcg of iodine each day - and yes, I have no idea how you would no that! So, be as strict as you can without driving yourself crazy.
I have to make you aware of something that was a bit confusing to me until someone cleared this up for me. When checking to see if a product is LID-Friendly, remember that this is NOT a non-sodium diet. For instance, a product may list Sodium in the "Nutrients" list. When you see this, check the "Ingredients" list to ensure there is NO salt listed. If there is no salt listed, then the Sodium can (and often does) occurs naturally in the product, which would make it LID Friendly. Recall that there is no way to know if any salt listed in the ingredients is iodized or non-iodized and their are no requirements from the US Government (FDA) to list this particular distinction. (You may call the manufacturer, but personally this may be a red herring because it could depend on who you talk to. Personally, I rather add non-iodized salt from a non-iodized container that I purchased in the store to provide me with the level of trust that any salt added to my food is NOT iodized because any iodized salt can severely jeopardized the effectiveness of the RAI treatment.)
These ingredients disqualify products from being LID compliant: Salt (because you don't know if the manufacturer used iodized salt or not), Red-dye, Soy, Soybean, Sea Salt/carrageenan/seaweed (like fish - which is NOT on the LID - because anything form the sea will have varying amounts of iodine), (Note: In the Thyroid Cancer Support Forums, I was told that Soybean Oil is acceptable.)
The images below contain pictures of products that will help to steer you in the right direction. In no way does it represent all the ingredients and products used. Common sense played a part in this decision. For instance, although we used the spice Parsley, we didn't put a picture of it up here because it didn't contain anything in the spice other than Parsley, making it LID-Friendly.
Images Follow - with an attempt to categorize them:
Spices, Flavorings, Broths, ETC:
Baking/Cooking Products:
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